Jon Pertwee investigates crime...

I was reminded today of a series of children's adventure novels from the mid-seventies that went under the umbrella title of "Roger Moore and the Crime Fighters". Apparently, the actor Roger Moore - famous for his roles as TV's Simon Templar in 'The Saint' and TV's Lord Brett Sinclair in 'The Persuaders!' - had a hobby of investigating crime with the help of children. These investigations were chronicled in a short-lived series of novels for the less-discerning teenager. 

The actor Jon Pertwee - then famous as TV's third Dr Who - needed an income following his departure from the popular BBC show. He saw the Roger Moore books and decided he wanted to some of that. He commissioned some of the old Doctor Who writers to come up with the goods. 

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They were never published and the Pertwee name remains unsullied...until now!


STOP PRESS (23/09/2014): 
I was inspired to post this after seeing the following tweet by Gideon Defoe . Thanks for the memory.

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Great Unreleased Doctor Who Merchandise of the 20th Century - part four

THE MASTER ANNUAL 1975

Published by World Distributors Ltd - 1974 - Original price 95p

A year or so before the release of their 'Dalek' annuals, World Distributors Ltd looked to other parts of the 'Doctor Who' to exploit. Some bright spark came up with 'The Master Annual'. This test copy features all the usual picture strips, zany art and bewildering features one would expect. The stories include such luridly titled efforts as 'Terror on Alpha One', 'The Golden Death', 'Invasion of the Puff Creatures' and 'Killer from the Asteroid Belt'. The features have a bent towards villainy rather than space (like the previous annuals based on the parent series). There's an A-Z of Villainy which includes topics such as 'blackmail', 'Lizzie Borden', 'arsenic' and 'the Conservative Party' together with a game which gives the players a chance to kill the Doctor by trapping him in a pit of “Perluvian acid snakes”. 

As is usual, the is no credit for writers or artists and the copyright is simply credited to the BBC. Documentation from the original publishers suggests a print run of 5,000 was supplied to them from a printing house in Spain though there is no record of either their storage or destruction in the UK. 

Venusian Akido Doctor!

I've always had a lot fun mocking up fake 'Doctor Who' merchandise as you have probably gather from the handful of previous posts. Normally they are simple photoshop mock-ups treated to look like the sort of photos you see on certain Ebay seller accounts.



But this little effort takes the 'Doctor Who' fakery to another level.

Love it. 

And made in in the UK apparently by a gentleman called Joshua.